Thank you, David, for your third intervention in our debate today—it’s welcome.

I should say, to be charitable to the Minister, I agree absolutely with Janet Finch-Saunders that I do think that the Minister is very passionate in her area here and I very much welcome that. She’s agreed to come to various constituencies with Members and explain the situation. Even if there’s a few hundred people frothing at the mouth, she’s willing to come, and I think that should be very welcomed. I also pay tribute to BT who are also very engaging, I think, with Assembly Members—always willing to meet and correspond as well, and come to constituencies as well. So, I thank the Minister for that.

There are a few issues I would raise. I think, first of all, there is, of course, a great frustration—the Minister’s right and she accepts that—but, certainly, the frustrations are, I would say, not only in rural areas but urban areas as well, as David Rees has pointed out. I did take Neil Hamilton’s contribution—I listened very carefully to him—a very good contribution, and of course his region covers, I think, nine constituencies and only one constituency actually has above the Welsh average for superfast broadband. I think that just demonstrates that this is very much a rural problem—not exclusively, but very much a rural problem. And that, of course, ties in as well to Janet Finch-Saunders’s points with regard to the farming community as well. We know that the biggest issue is in rural Wales—that’s where farming businesses are located—and the Welsh Government has put ever more pressure on making sure that Welsh farming businesses submit applications and certain documents online. Well, they simply can’t do that if they haven’t got good, fast, reliable broadband.

The Minister also made the point, quite rightly, that there are changes to the way in which mobile networks and mobile operators—. Mobile is changing and evolving. Mobile now is for data as well as voice calls, and I accept that. That’s happened more in recent years, and I accept that there are issues there with regard to delivering broadband. But, in many ways, that could be a solution, of course, to delivering broadband in particular areas; if there’s good, fast, reliable mobile, then of course that also meets the demand for broadband, via access over the mobile network.

Dai Lloyd also, in his contribution as the Plaid spokesperson, called for the establishment of a bespoke local scheme to ensure that no home or business in Wales goes without access to next generation broadband. This certainly, I think, has merit, and I certainly think that that’s an issue that should be explored. He also pointed, of course, to Blaenau Gwent and the fact that 99 per cent of Blaenau Gwent has access to superfast broadband. But, of course, that’s access; it doesn’t mean that they’ve got that broadband, it means they’ve got access to it. And you’ll find, actually, that only a small fraction of those in Blaenau Gwent who can access broadband have actually taken that up, which of course is very much the point of our debate today with regard to highlighting the lack of take-up, which is a point that he later made himself.

He also spoke of the fact that digital connectivity is now an essential part of modern life, which contributes not only to economic prosperity and delivering a tangible uplift in skills and educational performance, but also has a positive impact on healthy living and the environment. Indeed, I fully agree with that, and I fully agree that access to broadband is rapidly becoming a human right, not a privilege.

So, in conclusion, Deputy Presiding Officer, I would say that the intention of the Welsh Conservatives in this motion today is to call on the Welsh Government to devote a lot more time, effort and resource to ensure that we have a telecoms infrastructure that is fit for the twenty-first century Welsh economy. Whether it’s connecting with family or friends, or helping children to study at home and do their homework, or driving growth for local business, digital connectivity is now a crucial part of our day-to-day lives and Wales can no longer afford to be the poor man or woman of Britain, as it sadly is at the moment. But when it comes to broadband take-up and mobile coverage, I think that this has to be a top priority, because certainly I would like to be here in a few years’ time when my inbox is a lot less full of people contacting me with broadband and mobile issues. But I certainly hope that the Welsh Government’s current commitment to have all of Wales having superfast broadband by the end of this Assembly term will be delivered. I want to be standing here in the future saying, ‘Thank you, Welsh Government, for delivering this and for reducing my inbox considerably.’ But I very much commend this motion to the Assembly today, and I urge Members to support it.